1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game apparatus which is in communication with at least one other game apparatus to progress a game while exchanging a message therewith, and, more particularly, to inputting of a message.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a network game which is played by a plurality of game apparatuses connected together over a network, individual players exchange messages with one another in real time to improve communications among unacquainted players. The message-exchanging communications among the players may be adopted to a game which is played among a plurality of game apparatuses by friends through infrared communication or the like.
In such a game which progresses while exchanging a message, each player inputs a message from a keyboard connected to the game apparatus or inputs a message through a software keyboard. It is very difficult for a player to input a message at a good timing with such a scheme in a game which demands multiple basic operations in the proper progress of the game, such as a battle in an action game or a role playing game.
There is a method of registering a plurality of message candidates assigned to operational buttons beforehand, and reading and selecting a registered message candidate at the time of inputting the message. It is apparent that the number of operational buttons for which message candidates associated therewith can be registered is limited, and it is difficult to input an adequate message according to the game situation at any time.
To overcome the difficulty of the aforementioned message input, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-346230 discloses a game which displays, on a display device, a message group containing one or more messages according to the game situation and allows a player to select a desired message from message options included in the message group.
Although the game described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-346230 displays message options according to the game situation when the game situation becomes a predetermined situation, message exchange among players are just collateral in the entire progress of the game. A player who does not like such a message exchange as a communication with another player may feel tiresome about abrupt display of the message options as implemented in the game described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-346230.
Even a player who likes a message exchange as a communication among players may feel tiresome about abrupt display of message options when, for example, he/she is busy advancing the game and has no room for communications with other players. In case where the game situation changes rapidly (which is likely to occur in a battle between a player character and an opponent character), the game described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-346230 does not properly display message options, which may disable the player to input even an adequate message as a result.